


Walk On By

by orphan_account



Category: Hiveswap
Genre: also theyre butch because im a lesbian and i say so, also uh trolls have tails, anyways i dont post here much go easy on me, anyways these two fucks are best friends, tyzias is a nonbinary lesbian and uses they/them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 06:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21193442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Tyzias and Tagora are in the bookhive studying up for their next big test. They've got something to talk about.





	Walk On By

Tagora Gorjek wouldn’t have himself known as a coward. If anyone asks, he’s out there going above and beyond to do whatever he has to in order to assure his place as the slinkbeast on top of the pile. If that means twisting things into his own favor and screwing over his coworkers to make himself look better, so be it. It’s not a kind world that awaits the trolls who pass their examerminations and absolutely demolish the competition in their ordeals. There is a mutual understanding in trolls who murder and are murdered-- what else are you expected to do? Growing up in a world that wants you dead is hard and nobody understands.

The issue lies in when Tyzias lifts their eyes to meet his and he won’t so much as raise his head from where it’s bent slightly, hair obscuring his eye, looking for all the world like he’s absolutely absorbed in the enthralling read of “Hundred Sweep Summary Of Mid To Low Blood Caste Culling Statistics [etcetera etcetera]”. He hasn’t turned a page in enough ticks to alert them to the fact that he’s thinking. And when their classmate and partner is busy thinking as hard as he is, claws subtly digging in and out of his arm in an innocuous tick of anxiety, it puts them on edge.

He’s not a coward. They can’t speak for his morality because they can’t speak for their own. None of them in their class can be accused of being a ‘good person’, not when they’re at the top and expected to be bloodthirsty. Good Person is a label they actively run away from. Good Persons die when their beliefs and actions inevitably turn them against the Empire and the teachings of Her Oh So Wonderful And So Horrifying Condescension. And oh, they all love what they do, because it’s what they deserve. It’s what they were hatched for.

Tyzias is not a good person. And so they don’t expect Tagora to be one either. The expectations lie somewhere underneath the pestering and the insults, in between the scathing critiques and warning glares. Sometime between when they used to sit together on the strutpath and laugh at the stupid shmucks they encountered in their nightly life, and this moment in strained and pulse-wrenching silence, things changed, and they’d never spoken a word about it. Somehow, they hadn’t needed to. Even when things had veered horribly off course. 

Which is why meeting his eyes matters. Tyzias clears their throat. Raps their claws faux-impatiently against the desk, and he lets out a long and aggravated sigh.

“What do you want?” He lifts his head and glares off at nothing, as if they aren’t worth the eye contact. Tyzias wishes they could hear his thoughts. Wouldn’t that make everything so easy? Of course, if the Empire could read thinkpans and comb through them for treason, Tyzias would have already rot underneath the sun. 

“I’mmmm absolutely dying to hear your opinion on chapter fifty-seven of that book you’re reading.”

“Ew. Don’t tell me this has over fifty chapters.”

“Eighty-five. Take that hive and choke on it.”

“Fifty caeger fee for making me hear that crass joke. What are you, six? Sign here.”

Tyzias doesn’t look at the paper he scribbles on half-heartedly and shoves across the study table in their direction. They’re staring at him, burning heat against his expression plateau. He feels it, they know he does, because he’s holding his ears stiff. His tics are as familiar to him as their own by now.

“Choke on that. If you keep harassing me when I’m busy I’ll take this study date to my own hive and lock you out.”

“Wwwwe’ve been here long enough. Mmmmaybe the mmmmoonlight and the air wwwwill be good for your scrawwwwny ass. Your lusus likes mmmme mmmmore anywwwways.”

That gets him to shoot them a look, and they twist their mouth at him. They could almost describe the look in his stare as hatred-- if that weren’t absolutely laughable. Tagora  _ wishes _ he were capable of grinding them up beneath his heel and leaving them behind to die in an alleyway somewhere. Finally rid himself of the burden they pose on his hide. “Are you sure your weak complexion wouldn’t completely crumble and fall to pieces the instant a stiff breeze brushed against you, Entykk?”

Ooh, castenamed, that’s how you know he’s angry. Tyzias carelessly slaps their open books shut, leaning over to shove them into their backpack as they speak. “Your ganderbulbs need a rest. I’ve obviously never been mmmmore fit in mmmmy life. In fact, I’ll race you to your hive and leave your skinny self in the dust to wwwwell and truly choke. Bet?”

He doesn’t move, intensifying his glare, knowing what they’re pushing for and digging his heels in to resist. It’s not one of those nights where he’s easily humored. The nerves are obviously grating his thinkpan. He's been in a short mood for the past several nights, and they know exactly why. Tyzias tosses a piece of scrap paper in Tagora's face and chuckles when he snarls at them.

They want to talk. He doesn’t want to talk. They’ll keep pushing him until he snaps and gets too frustrated to be nervous. When their look turns smug, he scoffs and kicks at their leg beneath the table.

“Hey. Not fair. Wwwwe haven’t wwwwrestled in swwwweeps.”

“I am not above stabbing you, Tyzias. I  _ wilI  _ endure Stelsa’s needling prattle for the satisfaction of getting you to leave me alone. I swear it.” He wouldn’t. Nobody can endure Stelsa when she really gets going. They've sworn it to silence amongst themselves, lest the Empire use her as a means of torture. (That's mean. Tyzias adores their matesprit and everything she has to say.)

“Wwwwell, you knowwww wwwwhat they say about bloodshed in the bookhive. Just don’t get it on the carpet. Commmme on, you can stab mmmme outside.” Up they go, sweeping his books (to his yelp of dismay) up in their arms and shuffling right out the door. 

Tagora clambers for a moment, and then pauses to collect himself. When he steps out into the warm night next to them, he is collected and calm and definitely not muttering quietly to himself underneath his breath. He is not a coward.

“I knowwww you’re not mmmmuttering your mmmmantra right n--”

“Shut your yap and give me my books.” He grabs them roughly out of Tyzias’ hands, then promptly begins his stalk down the strutpath. They shuffle after him.

“Listen, I--” He cuts them off again, once more refusing to meet their eyes.

“I’m not talking to you about it, not tonight, not after what happened at work.”

“Fuck’s sake. Wwwwhat do I do then, just fuck around until you get into the mmmmood?”  
  
“_Exactly. _Leave me out of that business. It’s a blessing from the stars themselves that I don’t just turn you in right now.”

“You wwwwouldn’t do that to mmmme.”

“Are you looking for reassurances to ease your conscious?” His harsh whisper whips around to them, and this time his glare is unsettling-- it's paired with his fangs. “You asked for this.  _ You  _ know even better than I do what happens to idiots who fool around with the law and don’t have something to cover their asses.”

“I  _ did _ cover mmmmy ass.” Their whisper drops harshly, the bits of humorous facade falling from their face. They’re still both walking quickly, pausing their words when another troll walks past. “I don’t need you to call mmmme an idiot. I need you to tell mmmme wwwwhy you didn’t let mmmme just  _ help-- _ ”

“Fuck off. What do I look like, one of your enabling traitor buddies--”

“I had it  _ handled _ Gorjek all you had to do wwwwas turn a blind bulb and--”

“Ha ha very fucking funny--”

“You  _ knowwww  _ wwwwhat I mm--”

“And lie when there’s an investigation? You want me to  _ lie _ for you?”

“All you had to say wwwwas that you didn’t see anything!”

"But I  _ didn't  _ see nothing, Tyz, I saw every bit of your stupid and idiotic plan to aid a lowblood escape from conviction and it's been stressing me so badly I've been getting wrinkles!  _ Wrinkles _ ! Like some kind of soft shelled grub! I should cull you right here and save the Empire the trouble! Save _me_ the trouble!"

Tyzias stops in the path and glares up at the moon to keep themselves from looking stricken. He'll read it anyways in how stiff they hold their tail, and their clenched fist. There was a reason they'd never put words into this silent agreement before.

"Don't be like this." He's stopped too, in front of them, straightening himself from where he was hunching over his armful of books. They blink in surprise at him, expecting a rare moment of outward sympathy. They don't get it. "Don't play coy. You know the consequences. I won't help you delude yourself into believing your ill-advised actions were anything but completely moronic. Just drop it all already, Tyzias."

Several strained beats pass before Tyzias forces an eye roll. "Just prommmmise you'll cull mmmme before the Emmmmpire gets a chance to." It's a plea. Something in it is begging. He knows they won't stop, and they know he won't be convinced. Pushing this argument was stupid. They won't get anything out of it. That's just how things are.

Tagora stares at them. His tail lashes. 

They raise their eyebrows at him. Something questioning, like they know he wouldn't say no to this.

And now they're staring at each other, both thinking the same thing, wishing it were different in starkly different ways. Still, when it comes down to it, he knows they would do the same for him. The Empire catching a traitor alive is a fate worse than your standard culling. Maybe he _should_ cull them himself, sooner rather than later. Save everyone the trouble. Minimize the risk. Really, it's the smart thing to do. But he likes them too much. 

He lets out another aggravated sigh. "Fine. Fine! I'm looking forward to it! Seven hundred caeger fee for making me promise that after I'd just yelled at you!"

"Remmmmind mmmme to sign that once wwwwe get to your hive and I prove your lusus likes mmmme mmmmore." They start walking again, nudging his arm with their elbow. Topic changed. The strain on both of their shoulders can ease now, though it won't ever leave.

"I apparently can't account for either of our tastes."

"Speaking of poor taste, I've been mmmmeaning to ask about Baalekh--"

"I've told you not to call him that!"

Their bickering fades from view, spot on the strutpath left empty and unmarked. It was as though they'd never been there. Maybe like the conversation had never happened, except the afterimage of it would stay in both of their minds in the perigees to come. The number of needless deaths on their planet rises steadily. Somewhere not too far, a rocketship crashes into the unyielding dirt.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at dyketyzias :] i have a lot of feelings about these two. oh! and the title is a reference to Ollie MNs song "In Quiet Rooms", which I associate HEAVILY with tyzias


End file.
